India is right to insist the developed countries peak their emissions

India has called upon developed nations to walk the talk on climate change and peak their emissions that cause global warming. In parallel, we need to rev up thermal efficiency in our power plants, boost renewable sources of energy and incentivise greater energy efficiency right across the board, all of which would reduce emissions going forward.

In a recent precursor to the next round of negotiations to mitigate climate change — the 17th Conference of Parties (COP-17) is to be held in Durban — environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan did, rightly, differentiate between the stock and flow of emissions. Developed country parties have the largest share of historical stock of emissions, and they need to be proactive and agree to reach their peak. The reasoning is unexceptionable.

Stabilisation of climate change does not depend on current emissions alone. Rather, the accepted scientific consensus is that stabilisation calls for concrete action to reduce the stock of emissions. Hence the need to come to grips with the issue of global peaking, and specifically, for peaking in Annex-I parties (read: developed economies) and within a time frame.

The policy of front-loading mitigation action in the North would be fiscally-prudent and timely, given their lacklustre growth prospects. Also, effective green action to peak emissions in the mature markets would provide ample opportunity for stepped-up exports of environment-friendly equipment and technologies to the main emerging markets including India.

Hence the pressing need to extend the commitment of parties from both the North and the developing South for mitigation measures under the Kyoto Protocol, and to purposefully iron out issues of equity, trade and technology-related IPRs for truly global climate action. I

t is unfortunate that several Bali Road Map issues remained unresolved at the last ministerial meet, in Cancun; they clearly need to be expedited in Durban. In tandem, India needs to fast-forward action on the ground to reduce per-capita emission intensity by 20-25% by 2020. It would boost our energy efficiency levels and, so, be hugely beneficial nationally.